1. The Olympics. They are fabulous regardless of what comes or what disease lands. Great to see Australians doing well at the Olympics. Class efforts, often at huge personal expense. Olympics - amazing strike rate in, on and underwater. All our medals bar two have been water related - swimming, canoe, rowing, sailing, surfing...and one road cycling and one BMX medal only. Typical island country!
We have Kaylee McKeown (the 100m and 200m backstroke was the first time ever for an Australian!) and Emma McKeon (a million medals for the games!) - hard to keep the head across which is which! What we do know, is they are stars. The efforts of Ariane Titmus were superb. The Harvey Norman marketing crew will be thanking themselves on their 'ambassador' signing of Titmus pre games.
McKeon has been superb and deserves to carry the flag at the closing ceremony. The most ever Olympic medals by an Australian with another Olympics at least to follow. Five gold as well, equalling the great Thorpey. A legend! A greater legend than the Dawn Fraser and Shane Gould stories... a few more events these days it must be said, but keep that bit quiet.
Australia has had a really strong Olympics really. 58 medals is our best ever (Sydney 2000 - 35 total medals in Melbourne in 1956) and 17 gold medals at Athens in 2004.
At present we have 31 medals with 14 gold medals... could it be our best ever?
2. Rohan Browning. Great to see an Aussie run fast in the 100m! It can be done if drugs are removed from the Games. Suddenly, certain teams are not as dominant. Poland winning the 4x100m Medley would have been unheard of some years ago. Good that Flo Jo's soiled record has been eclipsed too. I am filthy about cheating athletes. They should be listed in a Hall of Shame. that is well publicised. They deny the legitimate athletes from glory and represent weakness in officialdom.
3. Discus Golfer. That Australian discus thrower - Denny - has a great golf swing too. Liked the Matilda's women's soccer great focus and belief too. Our long jumper looked like he had just mowed the lawn in his black socks.
4. NRL. As mentioned in the past few weeks...if COVID gets to QLD there is a problem. They should be moving to North Queensland as soon as possible.... or the Northern Territory. They are in trouble if it all falls over.
I cannot believe how poor the standard of NRL match-ups has been this weekend (outside of Storm v Panthers). Warriors v Tigers...North QLD v Broncos... Can't wait for the Gold Coast Titans v Bulldogs...? Terrible. Perfect weekend for COVID mayhem really. Canberra are a disappointment too. What a bad loss. Newcastle could make the semis based on their draw.
Saved by Storm v Panthers, but the Storm stamped their class. They are not losing this year unless a terrible injury or two strikes.
I noticed the quick tap is being permitted again... lazy refs have been put on notice. Such inconsistency.
5. AFL. Woeful effort by Brisbane this weekend giving up their key position. West Coast were poor too. Freo v Tigers was a cracking game of desperation...as was the Swans v Essendon. Great intensity for semi final positions!
6. Tennis. Djokovic default for the bronze medal? Barty and Peers get a medal which is special for them. How Barty lost a singles match I'll never know... Djokovic will never be as admired as his tantrums and poor behaviour should never be seen in the Olympics. In fact, tennis should be barred. A joke. Golf is another one that could be trimmed. They are simply not the pinnacle event in their sport and are meaningless. The Masters or the Olympics gold? I think most golfers would say the Masters - as tennis players would say Wimbledon.
7. New Celtic coach. Ange Postocoglou. I hope he is ready for the ride and a thicker skin than he had as Australian coach. He will be under the pump. A first up loss to Hearts doesn't help. He cannot manage media questions at all well.
8. Trevor Hohns is resigning. Now pass the tissues. He has had a hand in there for too long. Successful first time around and second time around, a little tired and uninspiring. George Bailey and Justin Langer are the selectors. Surely Langer gets a say, but not that much longer. Langer is on thin ice - paper thin.
9. Cricket. A win v Windies in the ODI series. A shock with our form. What a boring, uninspiring series. No stand outs on dud pitches too. Starc was the difference.
10. NBA Draft. Interesting US reaction when overseas players get drafted in US Sports ahead of local players... Josh Giddey the Australian basketballer gets the nod over locals for the Oklahoma Thunder and there is hell to pay. Jealousy is certainly a curse!
11. Gold Medal Commentator. Bruce McIvaney's spirit and passion at the track is a Olympic Games highlight. Hoping we may get a medal. He'll almost die like he did that night in 2000 with Cathy Freeman, if we do!
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